Is Erdogan inciting a holy war Against Christian Europe?

(THE CLARION PROJECT) — By Meira Svirsky

Furious over the recent EU ruling that allows for banning the hijab in the workplace, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Europe has started a “clash between the crescent and the cross.”

The remarks came just hours after Erdogan’s foreign minister warned that “holy wars” would soon start in Europe between Islam and Christianity (see below).

“Shame on the EU. Down with your European principles, values and justice,” Erdogan told supporters at a rally. “They started a clash between the cross and the crescent, there is no other explanation.”

In a ruling that upheld the dismissal of two Muslim women who refused to remove their headscarves at work, the European Court of Justice said businesses were allowed to prohibit the wearing of “any political, philosophical or religious sign.” The court further stated that such prohibitions can no longer be construed as discriminatory.

With Turkey embroiled in a row with The Netherlands over The Netherlands refusal to allow Turkish electioneering in The Netherlands, Erdogan’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned of a brewing holy war.

“Where are you taking Europe?” he asked, directing his commented to the government of The Netherlands. “It’s collapsing, it’s decaying. Soon there’s going to be a holy war. It’s going to start.”

Accusing the Netherlands of fascism across all their political parties — from the democrats to Geert Wilders’s anti-Islam party — Cavusoglu said, “All have the same mentality.”

Days earlier, Erdogan inflamed tensions, saying the Dutch government was “Nazi remnants, they are fascists.” He added, “I said I thought Nazism was over, but I was wrong. In fact, Nazism is alive in the West.”

Revving up the rhetoric against The Netherlands and Europe in general, Erdogan on Friday urged Turks in Europe to have five children, telling them, “You are Europe’s future.”

“From here I say to my citizens, I say to my brothers and sisters in Europe … Educate your children at better schools, make sure your family live in better areas, drive in the best cars, live in the best houses,” he added in a televised speech.

“Have five children, not three. You are Europe’s future. “This is the best answer to the rudeness shown to you, the enmity, the wrongs,” he said.

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